erinonthefarm

Sniper is not left outside anymore because of snakes, only outside under supervision. If we leave him alone in the house he is left in the laundry although I have a huge crate on order and that will be his area when we are out so he can be under the airconditioner during summer. He is only 1, so not very trustworthy to have the run of the house, he is used to being put in the laundry anyway and just sleeps. We do give him a special toy that he is only allowed at these times and sometimes give him a bone although the clean up is gross.

No not sad, I was just compilling a list of names for a future addition, I have to hide it from my husband or I'll get teased

Well I guess that is a good thing, that is if getting a dry bite from a snake doesn't give me a heart attack at the time!!! It also makes me thankful we don't have Taipans!! A lady just over the road got a dry bite from a VERY large Dugite. She didn't feel off at all. Thank goodness they do do that Gosh you were very lucky Last year we had a 2 metre RBB in our yard. It was my fault as our kelpie Bella realised I was going out and also that I wanted her to go inside (but she has work to do) so hid under the water tank. As I was only just going up the road and already had a dog and toddler in the car I just left her, which I normally dont do. No sooner than backing the car out I saw the snake going across the yard and then Bella cracked it a couple of times on it's backend. By the time I put the car into park, pulled the handbrake on and screamed at my daughter and dog to stay put Bella was face to face with it. It struck out at her three times as I was running over to them. I knew it hit her as she shook her head after each srtike. Rushed her to the vets, no visable marks, no signs off invenimation though I kept her there till 10pm just in case. Bella was fine? I had to keep her crated and rested for a few days, but no signs of being bitten at all. At the time all I cared about was my dog and getting her to the vet. I realise now that the snake was doing it's best not to hurt her and just wanted to get away from us. As I said, my fault. I dont care what happens all dogs will be away and inside if I have to leave the house. :thumbsup:

Well you did ask for suggestions. Shade-mesh was suggested as a safer, effective alternative; and the illegality, cruelty and posed danger (to your dogs) of bird netting was highlighted. :clap: Snakecatcher, thank you for your info. The poor snakes get a rough deal and its good to know someone is on their side! Oh I dont disagree. But if they stay away from my yard they will all be fine. For all those people who have offered their opinion I wonder how you would all feel if your dog got bitten and the anguish you would go through not knowing whether your dog is going to pull through. Maybe you havent thought about it hard enough. I lost my heart dog last September to a snake, but I know that she was bothering them and not the other way round. If you kill a snake you just create open territory for another one, what I have learnt from this is to train your dogs to stay away, keep them indoors at night and in the afternoon when they are most active and supervise them outside at those times when and if they go out (on a lead if they won't recall). Anyone who thinks that by killing snakes their dog will be safe is in for a rude shock. Basically if the only sollution you are happy with is killing them, why ask for ideas if you have made up your mind. I personally have had several snakes removed from my house in Alice Springs, but I am much happier supervising my dogs and letting the snakes do their thing. My dog that died wasn't bitten while minding her own business, she was actively hunting them- my fault absolutely, not the snake which was just protecting itself.

So what possible reason would a snake see two dogs aggressively barking at it from inside a yard and change course to head straight at them? Then too keep coming when a person is then standing there as well......ohh and it was a tiger snake.....pretty sure they are venomous . This snake was in no danger, there was no one around and plenty of areas to go but it went straight for my dogs.....no amount of 'leave it' training on my part (if they actually remember when I haven't been there for hours) will stop them reacting if a snake goes at them! Snakes have no ears, they can't hear your dog barking, the best they can detect is the vibrations on the ground.

Apparently not, although they said it "probably" was ringworm. Breeder has seen him and said not to worry as the browns have sensitive skin and that it may take time to grow back but I certainly don't want it getting worse. I have also heard that thyroid problems can lead to hair loss, hence I was wondering if there was fungal spores present but the hair loss is actually caused by something else.

So would a skin biopsy be the next step, or blood work or something else?

In the first photo he is quite bleached from sunning himself during winter so the color difference was what I noticed not any itching or flaky skin. I initially thought he was just getting new coat through

No they don't use the uv light anymore only fungal cultures, and the fungal culture came back positive in three weeks

My 1 year old brown dobe has hair loss and flaky skin with some insect bite type bumps every 10cm or so in an area about the size of an A4 piece of paper on his back. It has been slowly getting worse since July when it was about palm size a few weeks after he got desexed. It is not totally bald just slight hair thining and lots of dandruff. He has seen a vet who tested for mites but came back negative (although I thought I heard it is not possible to test for all mites) and also had a fungal culture from skin which came back positive. While waiting for the fungal test to show a result he was treated with frontline, after which he was treated with sporinox for 45 days. The initial anti fungal was to be griseofulvin but I asked for a second opinion on treatment and was advised sporinox was more effective and less side effects and my normal vet was happy to prescribe it. I have since had yet another vet who came through treating camp dogs (I live a few km away from an aboriginal community in the NT) who said it did not look like ringworm, maybe something else fungal and that maybe he needed a skin supplement (megaderm). He suggested I stop feeding so much fish (I add fish oil capsules to raw food and also give sardines or canned salmon twice a week and change to just veg oil. I'm pretty confused, I was sure if it was fungal that a 45 day systematic antifungal would fix the problem, but now I am thinking that it is a food allergy. The regular vets have said that possibly the next step is a skin biopsy which sounds extreme. Just wondering if any dolers have some advice..... The first photo is from july and the second photo is from last week Thanks

Are you asking what equipment to use or how to tie them? I would be using a harness and not a collar first up, if you haven't already thought about that. Have you thought about a dog trailer, they are suprisingly light and affordable? Not sure what a brand new cargo barrier is worth but you can pick up second hand trailers for under a grand. I know what you're saying about squishy, our 10 month old dobe had to be put in the crate in the back as he takes over the backseat.

My husband likes the one about dogs licking YOUR wounds to make them heal, never mind that people die from toxoplasmosis from this practise! His mum told him this chestnut

How is this even legal!!?? I just hope anyone who is trying to rehome an adult purebred gets them desexed first, because no doubt these people will be looking for fifty odd adult dogs. Maybe these puppy mills need to pay a welfare levy to support the large number of their dogs who end up in shelters. Any ideas if the puppies are destined for any particular shop, market ect?

Sounds like you are doing everything possible to stop the fence running, obviously the neighbour is overreacting because if her dog gets wet a) it won't harm it and b) it might teach her dog not to growl at the fence. Good luck with it

I had my nine month old Dobermann attacked by another male dog two weeks ago. He has since been desexed as was planned, but I have been wondering if it will help prevent future attacks. He has been fine with a number of female dogs after his attack, but so far hasn't met another male since. My husband was with me when our dog was attacked and basically choked the other dog off ours. I feel quite traumatised by the experience however our dog was quite unconcerned, even a little excited by the whole thing. I was most dissapointed to see same dog off lead out walking again, I haven't taken our dog for a walk near our house since, only in other places where I know this dog won't be

I know puppies are hard to resist, but would an older dog be more suitable. Four kids must be a lot of work and when the puppy goes through its teenage years it will maybe be a hard slog to keep it out of trouble and occupied. Is your eldest kid on board with helping out? My parents made me wait until I was 12 at which point I could walk the dog by myself. Mind you, I totally get why you would want a puppy and as for breed prob a non working breed in the toys that might need less stimulation than a JRT and the like. I hear havanese are easy going little dogs if you don't mind grooming. good luck!

Thanks Agility Dogs, its a shame this happens more than I thought. Sniper seems fine today, I have to go to Alice Springs tomorrow so I'll take him in to have a walk around. Totally agree with this - two of my dogs have been attacked. On is quite reactive/defensive, the other really doesn't care. Just play it by ear and manage the situation as it arises.

Thanks TLC, I have spoke to his breeder last night who offered the same advice. We haven't been to any social things because we live two hours away from the club and need to do a orientation night before we can start obedience classes, there is none in July so we have to wait until August. It has been a bit of a problem, not as easy as driving down the road once a week for most people but I am looking to overcome it! He does play with other dogs in Alice Springs, but so far they have all been females. As far as him taking it in his stride, I was very surprised he was quite happy after, I was quite tense as my husbad and I had to pull the other dog off three times and as it had no lead or collar I thought it might come after him again, so I think I will have to be careful of my own emotions next time.

I took my nine month old Dobe for a walk today and he was attacked by another dog. The other dog had to be pulled of my boy who seemed pretty excited by the whole thing and unharmed apart from some missing fur and a small amount of swelling, but I'm wondering if this will cause problems the next time he encounters an unfamiliar dog? We live in remote NT so he doesn't see other dogs at home apart from this rare and unfortunate occasion, he was due to start obedience and confirmation after July and was well socialised by his breeder who kept him for us until he was 3 months because of the high amount of parvo in our area, but he hasn't had much doggy interaction since (average of once a f/n) and might not see other dogs until next week. How should I handle the next doggy encounter, should I go out walking where there are other dogs to meet or keep him with dogs he knows and gets on with and hope he forgets about the whole thing? I am worried that he will attack first next time as a defense?! I think it happened at a very bad time as he is at the age where he is becoming aware of territory, marking, females ect......

My puppy is now 5 months old and quite a handful! I asked the same question a month ago but decided with many dolers advice to wait a while- I am researching for where puppy no 2 will come from but I won't be commiting to another one for at least 18 months when Sniper is nearly 2yo and I think this is a good amount of time to wait at a minimum.

My new puppy came to me being raised on raw by his breeder, which I continued. I have time to make it up from scratch, but barf patties aren't hard to source (most pet stores that have premium dry food would have it) for new puppy owners and thats no harder than giving them biscuits.

Start now When they are little it is easier I think

Heres one of my doofus. Yours brought a smile to my face, great danes are so comical!

My understanding is, Raw and barf are the same thing, prey model does not include grains or vegetables, but green tripe which is nearly impossible to get. In terms of veg, use a juicer and put the pulp from your vegie juice into the mix. It may still come out the other end unchanged but it gives the gut more of a chance to extract. I have heard other people blend frozen veg as the fibre is already broken down from being frozen and I am going to try using seaweed powder for the antioxidants.

My puppy has been tracking with us since about 14 weeks and with his breeder before that. We started with hiding his food and getting him to find it. Now we use a ball in a sock and he is fairly reliable over a couple of hundred m at 4 1/2 months, the hardest thing for me being a newbie is reading him but it is amazing how good he is for such a baby and I put it down to that he was conditioned from an early age to use his nose. However his breeder has only taken up tracking in the past four years and successfully tracked both her show dogs as adults to titles. My biggest hurdle was motivating our puppy who has a very high food drive to be excited about his toy instead, I spent a long time making a big deal of playing with his toy while he watched and it didn't take too long for him to value it more highly.